In life we often find that we cannot get everything that we want. To get more of column A we sometimes have to give up some of column B. MMOs tend to be the same way and I wanted to look at that in regards to class balance. Players frequently expect more choice when it comes to classes and like variety. These classes are also expected to be balanced and fair. This is one of the reasons that the issue of class balance plagues virtually every MMO. How do we deal with it?
One of the simplest ways to deal with class balance is to limit the variables. MMOs that have fewer classes will have an easier time clearly defining roles and balancing the game. Each class will also have the opportunity to be more powerful as specific abilities will be spread across fewer options. Initially, I felt that one of the strongest points of World of Warcraft was the small class line up. I was stoked that they didn’t stretch roles that could be filled by one class across two or three. WoW was deceptive, however, because they chose to use a talent tree system.
Talent trees that add new and/or wildly modify abilities tend to create sub-classes. If you look at WoW, each class can really be viewed as two to three sub-classes. In some cases the tree just changes how a class does its role. In others, however, the talent tree literally modifies the role. This additional variety adds more to the complexity of balance. Should a damage specialized warrior do as much DPS as a rogue? If not, how much damage should that warrior do? The questions sound simple but most veterans know there is a huge argument there and it grows quickly. It is important to note that class balance is multiplicative, not additive.
I looked at WoW and noted that I appreciated it’s lean class line up. On the other side of the coin I have to point out my favorite game in a negative light. EverQuest 2 is now and has been as long as I’ve played it a class balance nightmare. 24 “different” classes out of the box. I still have to sit and let that sink in sometimes. 24 classes is an awful lot of choice and a whole lot of variety. If you want to try something new or different, EQ2 is certainly a game for you! Unfortunately, though, with 24 classes you can easily find some that are literally, unarguably and unfortunately useless.
During the KoS expansion one of my greatest regrets was that both brawler classes were pretty much vestigial for most raids. Some of our best players sat out raid after raid because there was no one activity that their class did that was better than what another class could do and more. It forced me to make tough choices and I had to go with classes that were “better” to keep our competitive edge. It was a terrible situation and one I can see repeating with certain classes being so obviously deficient to this day. How do you balance 24 classes, though? It is a massive task and I know that SOE does the best they can.
This leads back to the fundamental question of what would players prefer. Do they want more variety or better balance? Is it better to have a bigger role and less options or more specialized classes? I’ve always been inclined to like fewer classes that are more powerful but that is just me. How about you?
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In a way I think Blizzard has created more “classes” in WoW than Sony did with EQ2, but I could be wrong! There are three different spec choices for any class in WoW with 10 base classes. That’s a lot of balancing. I don’t envy the devs at all for this aspect of game mechanics. How do you avoid making classes that are worthless while avoiding making other classes incredibly overpowered? How do you balance hybrid classes against “pure” classes? I agree with you in that this seems like a huge nightmare.
How is class balancing multiplicative? I have no idea what that actually means in the context of balancing.
Class balancing also has to do with content. If the content actually requires certain capabilities, classes that otherwise would be left out can find a role to fill. Likewise, if your MMO is a standard tank-and-spank game, having 24 classes doesn’t do much more than cloud exactly who is doing what in the holy trinity.
It means that adding a class doesn’t just “add one” to the equation. You have to take the new class in the consideration of every class it shares abilities with. So, if you have two tanks already you can’t just compare it to the one. You now have to compare it to both of them and vice versus.
I agree on the part about a game’s needs. This is just more of a general “do you want variety or balance” question.
What about more customizable systems? With strict classes the devs atleast know the general direction characters will take, but with systems like in Champions Online they have to take much more into account. Although it does take more effort I prefer the more customizable games so I can create my own class.
Depends on the game. In a PvP-heavy game, I want balance. In a PvE game, I want variety. WoW and EQ2 are PvE-centric games, so variety wins.
I don’t think the situation is quite as you describe, though, Ferrel. As Siobhann points out, each spec can almost be thought of as a different class. At the most extreme, there’s a lot of difference between a Balance (Boomkin) Druid, a Feral Druid, and a Resto Druid. You can divide the Feral Druid into DPS (Cat) and Tank (Bear) aspects as well. A lot of classes have gotten more diverse as the game has progressed: Retribution Paladins and Fury Warriors used to be punchlines rather than viable specs. Even diverse Druids used to be second-rate healers and mere mana batteries for “real healers” in vanilla WoW raids.
In EQ2, the classes are paired up between “good” and “evil” flavors for the most part. The difference between a Necromancer and a Conjurer is relatively about the same as a Frost Mage vs. an Arcane Mage in WoW. So, really, I think the two games have about the same number of classes. And, the wheel of fortune spins for all classes, and sometimes a class is in high demand and sometimes players are asked politely to wait on the bench while the others go on raids.
From a developer’s point of view, I don’t think there’s really a continuum between balance and choice. Ignoring different types of games, I will admit that adding more classes makes it harder to balance, but not impossible. Some designers may be up to the challenge, and some designers wouldn’t be able to balance 2 classes against each other without one becoming vastly more powerful.
Absolutely, I didn’t want to get into the talent trees too much. I just threw that one liner in there when I wrote it about that making the game “deceptive.” I probably should have explored that more.
I’ll second that I don’t believe balance and variety to be an either-or proposition. Variety does increase the difficulty of balance, but each dev team and game will have their own capacity to handle that design.
It’s a false dichotomy to choose between the two in a vacuum. When applied to a strict budget, though, where there does need to be a choice, I side strongly on the side of variety. Of course, I don’t play PvP either, where indeed, balance would be preferable.